Notable case, Lekkerkerk, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands

Lekkerkerk

A new housing estate built on ground filled in with chemical waste. The 1980 evacuation was the first major contaminated-soil scandal in the Netherlands and led to the first Dutch clean-up law.

Mixed waste

Status: Remediated
People affected: 265 (1980)¹
Media: soil, groundwater
Kind of site: illegal dumping, landfill, chemical works

People affected. Families evacuated (not individuals).

Contaminants

Mixtures and waste

Mixed waste

Status

Remediated

The soil under the neighbourhood was dug out and replaced in 1980–1981; the clean-up cost 188 million guilders (about 85 million euros).

Story

A new neighbourhood was built at Lekkerkerk west of the Kerkweg, on land raised with fill that contained drums of chemical waste. Over time the drums corroded and their contents passed into the groundwater, just below the houses.

Contaminated water was first noticed in September 1978 during building work; the environmental inspectorate was told in January 1979. In April 1980 the case became national: on 22 April the drinking water was declared unsafe because the substances had attacked the pipes, and on 2 May it was decided to clear the neighbourhood by 1 June. 265 families were moved out.

The government chose complete removal of the contaminated ground, buying the houses. Lekkerkerk showed that there were many similar cases: in 1983 the interim soil clean-up act came into force, replaced in 1987 by the Soil Protection Act.